The digital asset market was shaken by the news that agents of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) created their own cryptocurrency specifically to catch fraudsters from Russia. On October 9, a court declassified part of the documents related to this case, revealing that during a unique operation, the FBI took an unprecedented step: it registered a company under the same name and issued a token on the Ethereum blockchain called The NexFundAI. According to the cover story, The NexFundAI was an innovative project aimed at combining blockchain technology with artificial intelligence. It was claimed that holders of these coins were guaranteed a substantial passive income, while transaction fees would be directed towards supporting promising startup projects.

To promote NexFundAI in the market, undercover agents met with market makers from the company GOTBIT. During this meeting, it was revealed that the firm was extensively using bots to conduct fictitious buy-and-sell transactions of cryptocurrencies on centralised exchanges. As a result, investors, who were drawn in by supposedly promising and rising-value coins, invested their money, after which GOTBIT offloaded these assets at inflated prices that it had artificially created.

As a result of this unique operation, law enforcement authorities managed to identify the fraudsters who had been conducting Pump & Dump schemes with digital assets from 2018 to 2024. On October 9, Alexey Andryunin, the 26-year-old founder and head of GOTBIT, was detained in Portugal at the request of the US authorities. According to media reports, the US Department of Justice charged him with market manipulation, fraud, and money laundering. Charges were also brought against the companies and executives of ZM, Quant, CLS Global, and MyTrade, which participated in providing liquidity. In addition to Andryunin, GOTBIT top managers Fedor Kedrov and Kavi Jalili were also detained. A total of 18 individuals and legal entities are being prosecuted in this case.